Metroid: Samus Returns

Started playing this last night and played a little more this morning.

So far, I'm not a huge fan of the controls. They work, but after playing Matterfall (also a side-scroller), SR feels pretty awful. The 3DS analog stick isn't great here, though at the moment I won't rule out the fact that I've barely touched a 3DS in my entire life and I', not used to it yet.

Here's the issue I see. It's acting like a twin stick but doesn't have two sticks. You can aim in any direction by rotating the stick, and fire with a button (already forgot the letter) which is fine for up and down, but anything else will cause you to move forward (or backward). You can solve this by holding L1 which will force you to stay in place while shooting, but that's the problem. You're stuck in that state.

This is what I mean when I say it's acting like a twin stick. Matterfall is the best comparison because the shooting is exactly the same only you shoot with the second stick, meaning there's no conflict between moving and aiming.

Of course, they probably never intended it to be one, but it does feel like one that doesn't work properly, though the way the enemies I've encountered so far behave and the way the parry mechanic works, seems to indicate that they did want to limit your movement to encourage constant parry use.

The enemies just roam back and forth until they see you, then launch an attack that so far has just been to rush straight at you. When they are about to attack you'll see a small white spark in front of them. A successful parry knocks them back, automatically looks you on, and gives you a more powerful shot. Doing the parry any other time as a normal hit (it's this upward, slashing motion) will just knock enemies back a short distance creating a little space, but not really stopping them.

You take damage from just touching enemies so they don't need to be attacking to hurt you. This makes avoiding them without parrying quite difficult. Like this bat thing dives at you, and you CAN jump it but a few times I landed on the damn thing which caused damage anyway. If I end up liking this game enough in the end, I might consider a no parry run, though the first boss required it. It was invincible until you parried.

Note: All this is based on what I've fought so far and very early in the game.

Almost forgot, I have missiles too, but only needed to use them on one enemy so far. It was some turtle thing that the regular blaster can't hurt because it hides in its shell.

The only abilities I've found so far are Scan, Charge Shot and Morph Ball. I'm pretty sure every one knows what these do. I've passed a few small spaces that I can now access but I can't get back to them at this point. I'm guessing there's a level select or fast travel option, or maybe an ability.

I've passed quite a few things I need abilities for. Some colored blocks, Morph Ball spaces, and doors with some kind of crap growing on them.

So far, not bad. I like the exploration and can't wait to get new abilities.

Just got the spider ball, bombs and freeze beam. This ups the combat options slightly. You can freeze enemies then shatter them with the parry or use them as platforms. Spider ball lets you climb walls or roll on the ceiling. I'm finding tons of secret areas now.

Fought some Metroids which are mini-bosses (I guess you know that already but I don't know shit about this series) and I think they might be optional, or at least some of them are.

The parry works, but they're usually in a state where you can't parry them, like covered in energy or something. I had to use the ice beam to weaken one first, which cancelled its energy field and opened it up to the parry. You can also shoot them in this state too, but it's far less effective and they'll soon activate their 'shield' again.

The game is really built around the parry. Some might like it but I think it's boring and I've barely been playing. It can be satisfying at first, but then you come across an enemy and just parry it again. The only really unique enemy I've come across so far is this thing that electrifies the ground, so they're really dangerous on platforms.

Without parry you'd be jumping and repositioning all over the place. I assume the game this is based on is like this? I seriously doubt it had a parry.

Not enjoying this at all.

I hate running around lost and the combat is uninteresting. Will probably drop this one.

I've heard a lot of mixed opinions on the title. It really seems to be the odd-ball of the series. It tries some new things. But the downside of the Parry I feel is that it makes you stay immobile. Metroid is about movement, keep on going as the whole speedrunning thing is so embeded in it.

The Parry is exclusive to this game btw.

The parry really is too overpowered. It limits the gameplay because the enemies are built around it. They will all flash then rush you. It would be quite difficult without the parry though, but aside from that, I don't actually like the gameplay enough to keep going.

The shooting is annoying, and running around these maps just sucks. I'm not against the 'Metroidvania' level design though, I'm just not enjoying the combat.